AI could spot Alzheimer’s in MRI scans up to a decade before symptoms show

New research from Italy suggests an algorithm can be trained to spot changes in the brain linked to the disease.

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Artificial intelligence can be trained to spot structural changes in the brain linked to Alzheimer’s disease nearly 10 years before doctors can diagnose it through symptoms, researchers claim.

According to New Scientist, a team at the University of Bari in Italy has developed a machine learning algorithm that is able to spot alterations in how different regions of the brain are connected – alterations that could be early signs of the disease.

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The AI was trained to correctly spot the difference between diseased and healthy brains, before being tested on its accuracy abilities on a second set of 148 scans – 52 of which were healthy, 48 had Alzheimer’s and the other 48 had a mild cognitive impairment that was known to develop into Alzheimer’s within 10 years.

The algorithm correctly distinguished between healthy and diseased brains 86% of the time, according to the researchers, who added that it was also able to spot the difference between a healthy brain and a mild impairment with an 84% accuracy rating.

The researchers said this showed it was possible for the AI to identify changes up to a decade before clinical symptoms of the disease appear.

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According to New Scientist, the team now plans to continue its research, extending the AI technique to look at other neurodegenerative conditions, including Parkinson’s disease.

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The game sets users navigation challenges, and they can opt-in to share their data with the researchers behind the game, who can use player performance data to plot spatial navigation skills of different ages groups and genders. The skill is one of the first parts of the brain affected by dementia.